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PLO/Hamas Detente?
by Stephen Lendman
Reports announced it. Previous efforts failed. We've been here, done that several several times before. Is this time different?
It remains to be seen. On April 23, Haaretz headlined "Palestinian factions prepare to implement reconciliation deal."
Mounib Al-Masri headed Abbas' negotiating team. "There has been great progress, and we are near ready to sign a deal at 11AM" local time, he said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahawiri issued a similar statement. A formal announcement followed. Maan News headlined "PLO/Hamas announce agreement to end political division," saying:
"PLO and Hamas representatives announced an historic unity deal on Wednesday to bring to an end more than seven years of political division between the main Palestinian political parties."
Cold War 2.0
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article said welcome to Cold War 2.0. The first one never ended. Since Soviet Russia's 1991 dissolution, Western policy remained hard-wired in place.
Putin and Obama are geopolitical opposites. They're world's apart. Their ideologies clash. They represent conflicting values.
Putin defends Russian sovereignty. He opposes US imperial lawlessness. He affirms UN Charter and other rule of law principles.
Obama claims a divine right to pursue unchallenged global hegemony. Washington considers Putin public enemy number one. At risk is potential East/West confrontation.
Russia bashing persists. It's intense. It rages daily. It exceeds the worst of Soviet era levels.
Marwan Barghouti on Sham Peace Talks
by Stephen Lendman
In May 2004, he was lawlessly convicted of three attacks killing five people. A three-judge panel admitted he had no involvement.
He said through year end. Perhaps well into 2015. In return, he demands concessions too minor to matter.
Why he'll have to explain. On April 18, Maan News headlined " 'No breakthrough' in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks," saying:
On April 17, five hours of "very difficult discussions" ended with no agreement. An unnamed Palestinian source said:
"The gap (between both sides) is still wide.
It didn't matter. Weeks later, he got five life sentences plus 40 years imprisonment. He's a prisoner of conscience.
Is the PA reaching the moment of truth?
By Khalid Amayreh
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has warned that it may pass responsibility for the Occupied Palestinian territories back to occupying power Israel if peace talks remain stalled.
An unnamed PA official said the Palestinians told American envoy Martin Indyk on Friday that unless Israel releases Palestinian prisoners as agreed in American –mediated talks and freezes settlement building, they could dismantle the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) of Chairman Mahmud Abbas."The Palestinians informed Indyk that if this Israeli intransigence continues, they have several options to resort to," the Palestinian official told a western news agency on condition of anonymity.
US Threatens Russia
by Stephen Lendman
Washington bears full responsibility for elevating illegitimate fascist putschists to power. Doing so reflects another sordid chapter in US history. For sure, it won't be the last.
Bullying, bluster and threatening ultimatums define US policy. John Kerry warned Sergei Lavrov.
Moscow has "days, not weeks," to assure Ukrainian four-part agreement terms are implemented. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki repeated his threat, saying:
"The secretary urged Russia to take concrete steps to help implement the Geneva agreement, including publicly calling on separatists to vacate illegal buildings and checkpoints, accept amnesty and address their grievances politically."
"He also called on Russia to assign a senior diplomat to work with the OSCE mission in eastern Ukraine to make absolutely clear to the separatists that Russia supports the agreement and wants de-escalation."
"The Secretary also made clear that Russia’s recent public statement casting doubt on Ukraine's commitment to the Geneva agreement flies in the face of the facts."
Outrageous Pro-Kiev Op-Ed
by Stephen Lendman
Haaretz editors published it. They know better. They shame their US counterparts. They feature writers excluded from their pages.
Western ones substitute propagandists. They're illegitimate. They lack credibility. They masquerade as journalists. US media feature them prominently. Readers are systematically lied to.
Hennadi Nadolenko is Kiev's ambassador to Israel. He represents illegitimate fascist putschists.
US drone strikes in Yemen shameful: American activist - Audio
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/04/22/359672/us-drone-strikes-in-yemen-shameful/
Daniel Patrick Welch, Press TV
An American activist says the Obama administration’s drone strikes in Yemen targeting civilians in the country are “shameful and sad.”
“It’s just quite shameful and sad,” Daniel Patrick Welch said in a phone interview with Press TV on Tuesday.
“It’s really sad that they don’t seem to be coming up with any plausible excuses any more. They just feel that they can go around the world and do this as they please,” he added.
Crimea: Putin’s Triumph
Israel Shamir
Nobody expected events to move forward with such a breath-taking speed. The Russians took their time; they sat on the fence and watched while the Brown storm-troopers conquered Kiev, and they watched while Mrs Victoria Nuland of the State Department and her pal Yatsenyuk (“Yats”) slapped each other’s backs and congratulated themselves on their quick victory. They watched when President Yanukovych escaped to Russia to save his skin. They watched when the Brown bands moved eastwards to threaten the Russian-speaking South East. They patiently listened while Mme Timoshenko, fresh out of gaol, swore to void treaties with Russia and to expel the Russian Black Sea Fleet from its main harbour in Sevastopol. They paid no heed when the new government appointed oligarchs to rule Eastern provinces. Nor did they react when children in Ukrainian schools were ordered to sing “Hang a Russian on a thick branch” and the oligarch-governor’s deputy promised to hang dissatisfied Russians of the East as soon as Crimea is pacified. While these fateful events unravelled, Putin kept silence.
Obama: “Remaking the Middle East”: The American Gulag
James Petras
Introduction
During the beginning of his first term in office President Obama promised “to remake the Middle East into a region of prosperity and freedom”. Six years later the reality is totally the contrary: the Middle East is ruled by despotic regimes whose jails are overflowing with political prisoners. The vast majority of pro-democracy activists who have been incarcerated, have been subject to harsh torture and are serving long prison sentences. The rulers lack legitimacy, having seized power and maintained their rule through a centralized police state and military repression.Direct US military and CIA intervention, massive shipments of arms,military bases, training missions and Special Forces are decisive in the construction of the Gulag chain from North Africa to the Gulf States.
We will proceed by documenting the scale and scope of political repression in each US backed police state. We will then describe the scale and scope of US military aid buttressing the “remaking of the Middle East” into a chain of political prisons run by and for the US Empire.
Fake Donetsk Letter Circulating
by Stephen Lendman
John Kerry denounced it, saying:
"During the past couple of days Jews in one of the cities were sent letters that they should declare themselves as Jews. The letter also contained threats."
"By 2014, after all the lessons that history has presented to us, it is not just unacceptable. It is - absurd. This is - beyond acceptability."
"People involved in this kind of activity on both sides need to understand that there is no place for this."
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